Tuesday, June 28, 2011

This is an easy-peasy beginner quilt. I made only 16 blocks for a baby quilt. It would be super easy to just make more blocks and make it into a throw or bed-size quilt. I made this quilt with cute, big-print fabrics in mind. In the past 5 or so years really big, graphic prints have become so popular and readily available. Using those kind of prints, you can make a simple quilt and really let the fabric do all the design work.

Fabric Selection

So let's start by talking about fabric selection. For this quilt I knew there would be 16 blocks so I chose 16 different fabrics (because I'm kind of a fabric obsessed person.) But you could use as few as 6 or 7 different fabrics and have the design just as scrappy. Most of the fabrics I used are from the collection Nest by Valori Wells for Free Spirit.

I chose 5 different colors for my quilt: Orange, pink, gray, green and white. Make sure you get a balanced number of fabrics per color. Notice that all my oranges aren't the same shade, nor my greens. Having different shades of the same color will give your quilt a lot of depth. Fabrics colors that are too matchy-matchy (i.e. all the greens are the same shade) will make your quilt feel flat. [This isn't necessarily bad - just depends on the look you are going for.]

Now let's talk about pattern. I mentioned earlier about all the wonderful big, graphic prints that are available right now. They are so fun to work with and make a really interesting quilt. But (and here's the big but) if every print you use is all the same scale (size), your quilt will look out of control. There will be no place for your eye to rest and the beautiful big prints will just get lost. What we need is contrast. Not only in color, but in scale. So again, I divide my fabrics into groups by scale: Large, medium, and small. Above are my large scale prints. Even though that scalloped stripe isn't a large design motif on its own, the width between the stripes makes it a large scale print.

These are my 'medium' size prints. They are still busy and colorful like the large graphic prints, but the design repeats are closer together.

Here are my small prints. These prints almost read solid. They aren't solid, but if you step back and squint your eyes they look like a solid color. These prints provide the contrast of the busier large and medium size prints to really show them off. They provide a place for your eye to rest. You can use actual solids - which I sometimes like - but again, the design becomes more flat. With a small print 'solid' you get more 'texture' or interest to the quilt.

Making the QuiltOkay, now that we've discussed fabric, let's make the quilt top!

For this quilt top you will need:

Sixteen 11+" x 13" rectangles

(you can get 2 of these pieces from one fat quarter or three from 1/3 of a yard)

1 ¼ yard for backing

Four 2½" strips (x width of fabric) for binding

(I say 11+" - like 11 ¼" - because if you cut your fabric slightly wider than 11" you will have more room to 'square-up' at the end. But if you can still get by with 11" if you're careful.) Now, cut each block in the same way. Starting at the left, cut off a 3" strip, a 1½" strip, a 2 ¼ " strip and then leave the fat strip at the end.

You can easily stack and cut at least four blocks at a time and you'll be done cutting everything for this quilt in no time.

Now, lay out all of your blocks, mixing and matching the 1 ½" and 2 ¼" strips. Stack each group together and take them to your sewing machine.

Begin with your 3" strip and put the 1½" strip on top, right-sides together. Sew the strips together using a consistent ¼" seam - usually the right side of the presser foot will work. Here is one of the keys to quilting: Always use a consistent seam allowance. Makes everything match-up nicely. You may have to go slow at first - and that's okay. The more you do it, the faster and more naturally it will come.

Now sew the 2¼" strip and then the remaining large strip that is the same fabric as the first. Repeat for all 16 blocks.

Take all your blocks to the ironing board and press the seams all to one side. Then press from the top to make sure all seams are flat and clean. (This is the second tip for neat looking quilts - don't skip the pressing!)

Now take your nicely pressed blocks back to the cutting mat and trim the edges to create 11" square blocks.

Lay out your blocks, rotating the stripe, until you get a design that is pleasing.

Pick up each row and sew the blocks together 4 across for each of the 4 rows.

When the rows are sewn together, you are going to press the new seams to one side, with the seams going in opposite directions for alternating rows. (This is going to make it easier to sew those rows together and those corners to match-up nicely.)

When you get ready to sew the rows together, pin the seams at the intersecting corners. Make sure the pressed-seams going in opposite directions but up against each other. This will help the corner to match perfectly and not be too bulky. Sew rows together (again using that consistent ¼" seam allowance). Press the finished quilt top from the top.

Voila! You have a simple quilt top finished that fast and easy. You are free to quilt however you choose. For some good machine quilting tutorials check Crazy Mom Quilts or A Quilt is Nice. I love how the quilting finishes a quilt - making it softer and giving it way more personality. AND I love how the quilting hides a lot of the flaws - of which I usually have many!

When you are ready to bind your quilt (the fabric folded over the end of the quilt to cover your raw edges), I can help you with this Quilt Binding Tutorial. Once again, it's SO much easier than it looks. Your friends will be so impressed.

Here is another example of a quilt made with a very similar technique. This quilt was made mostly from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection. Notice the variation of print sizes: small, medium, and large as well as the color variation - i.e. not all the pinks are the same shade. This quilt comes from this Off-set Square Pattern tutorial. Here is a picture of a quilt this style for boys.

I hope that some of this helps and gives you the courage to try making a quilt if it's something that's been too scary before. And don't be afraid to finish with something less than perfect. That's what gives quilts personality. :)TWIN SIZE VERSIONSince writing this tutorial I've had people ask me about fabric and size requirements to make a twin-size version. This pattern would make a really quick and simple twin size quilt. Here are the specs:Fabric: For your pieced blocks at least (16) 1/3 yards of fabricyou can get (3) 11.5" x 13" pieces out of 1/3 yard of fabric (which is roughly a 12" x 42")5/8 yard binding fabric5 yards backing fabricAssemble 48 blocks.Layout your blocks 6 across by 8 blocks down. These 48 blocks will give you a quilt top that is 63" x 84". If you want to make it any bigger I would suggest a 5" border all the way around - that would give you a 73" x 94" twin. (If you do this buy 1.5 yards of border fabric and increase your backing to 5.5 yards)

Great project.... Doesn't look like a "newbie" quilt. I always say when you share your talents with others it always seems to come back ten fold..... If we don't teach others quilting... it becomes a dying artform.... what a shame.... Thanks for giving to others...

Awesome quilt. I have some Jetsons fabrics I bought for a quilt for my granddaughter (she adores the Jetsons). I wish I had some other fabrics I could put with those Jetsons fabrics that were "outer space" because this would be just what I need to make her something quick. I love the fabrics you chose - you really have an eye for what looks great together.

We just had our fourth grandchild (first granddaughter) on Friday .. my first quilt top was a disaster because I washed the flannel and didn't know how to lay it out .. it had no interest or depth and was bland .. I'm so glad you showed how to select large, medium and small prints and how to line them up .. I am thinking about trying this as you have made it so easy to follow! Thank you for the wonderful tutorial! What size is this quilt?

I love this quilt, I would like to make a twin quilt (acutally 2), one with pinks and one with purples and this is exactly the way I wanted them to look. Thank You for such a wonderful tutorial. So far, this is the easiest blog to understand for making quilts!!

I did not see this the first time around since I just started looking at blogs! Not sure where I have been, but I was missing so much information. So thanks for repeating :)

Hi Barbara! Thank you so much for your sweet comment. I've had a few other folks ask me about blocks for a Twin-size version, so I've added the info in the post itself. I hope you enjoy creating yours!

Hey I am sitting here trying to figure out my lay out for my fabrics since I am using fewer prints. But I am a little confused in the comment thread you said that to make a 63" by 84" quilt you need 48 blocks but in the edited blog post itself you say you only need 42 blocks. So math wise I think the 48 blocks makes more sense... which is right?!?!

Gah! SO sorry about the mess-up! I double checked again and you're right - it's 48 blocks. (I also adjusted the fabric requirements.)SO sorry again - thanks for sorting me out! I hope I didn't mess-up a bunch of people. Eek.

This quilt is beautiful! I have NEVER quilted before, and I think this at least seams doable to me! Im making my daughter a quilt for her double/full bed. Do you have measurements for this same quilt in that siz ye? This is exactly what I want to do! Also any tips would be greatly appriciated! Thanks so much!

First off, I love your blog. I found you about a month ago, as I was preparing to take a beginning quilting class from my local quilt shop. I emailed you about buying a sewing machine and you very kindly took the time to reply. I really want to make a quilt using this pattern. My question is how should I ask my quilting shop to cut the fabric? I tried to figure it out based on this post and somehow just feel more confused! I can see myself using between 8-16 different fabrics. If I wanted to use a fabric and cut one block's worth of pieces, what would I order? If I end up doubling up on some fabrics, what would I order? Is "order" even the right word? HA! Thanks, Amy!

Hi, love your quilt and also your tutorial. I have done rag quilt but going to try these one for a twin size. How many yards in all should the fabric be? Do you mean to say 16 types of fabric ( 1/3 yard each)... sorry for the questions.

This is so beautiful. I am so inspired to do this as my first quilt for my daughter. Have just finished picking out all my fabrics and going to do calculations. I am making a double/full size spread. Am using your twin bed calculations and don't understand how you got "Layout your blocks 6 across by 7 blocks down. These 48 blocks will give you a quilt top that is 63" x 84"." I know you corrected this in the comments to be 6X8 blocks but still, I don't know how you get the quilt top measurement of 63"X84". I need mine to be at least 96" X 110" so I was thinking of doing 9X11 blocks. I know that this will mess with the nice and easy use of 0.3 yard of the 16 fabrics but I will have some leftover for pillows or curtains or something else. Your advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your question (and for reminding me that I had not fixed the 6x8 blocks part of the tutorial. gah. Fixed.)

The blocks square up to 11" unfinished which will make them 10.5" finished when they are sewn together. So 6 x 10.5=63, yada yada. I think your idea of doing 9 x 11 will work great for the bigger quilt. It should be 94.5 x 115.5 finished. You would need 33 cuts of 1/3 yard of fabric (or 17 cuts of 2/3 yard.)

If you want, you could use a 6" border all the way around, and you would only need to make 80 blocks (8 x 10) instead of 99 blocks. Saves on time and extra fabric. You would need 27 cuts of 1/3 yards and 2 yards border fabric. Just an option. Let me know of there is anything else I can do!

I would make the quilt 4 blocks across by 6 blocks down - which would be a 42" x 63" quilt. Therefore you would start with 24 11" x 13" rectangles. These could come from 12 Fat Quarters or 8 1/3 yards (or more, if you want more prints).

Hi Amy! Thanks SO much for this wonderful tutorial. I have everything I need to quilt - a brand new sewing machine, a huge stash of beautiful fabric, and all the bits and bobs. I just need time and courage and thanks to you I now have the latter! :)

I know this is a very old post... But wouldn't it be neat to be able to find several other space shows in fabric...just a bit here and there. A fat quarter of Lost In Space, or maybe of other cartoons of that era...Flintstones...Yogi Bear... Sounds like Jetsons is a great place to start!

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